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Baseline Report Series: 3. The Permo-Triassic Sandstones of South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire Groundwater Systems and Water Quality Commissioned Report CR/02/119N National Groundwater & Contaminated Land Centre Technical Report NC/99/74/3 The Natural Quality of Groundwater in England and Wales A joint programme of research by the British Geological Survey and the Environment Agency BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Commissioned Report CR/02/119N ENVIRONMENT AGENCY National Groundwater & Contaminated Land Centre Technical Report NC/99/74/4 This report is the result of a study jointly funded by the British Geological Baseline Report Series: Survey’s National Groundwater Survey and the Environment Agency’s 3. The Permo-Triassic Sandstones of NationalGroundwater & Contaminated Land Centre. No part of this work may South Staffordshire and North be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval Worcestershire system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright proprietors. All rights are reserved by the copyright proprietors. R Tyler-Whittle, S Brown & P Shand Disclaimer The officers, servants or agents of both Contributors the British Geological Survey and the Environment Agency accept no liability whatsoever for loss or damage arising A R Lawrence (Hydrogeology), C J Milne (database) & from the interpretation or use of the information, or reliance on the views R Hargreaves (GIS) contained herein. Environment Agency Dissemination status Internal: Release to Regions External: Public Domain Project No. NC/99/74 Environment Agency, 2002 Statement of use This document forms one of a series of reports describing the baseline chemistry of selected reference aquifers in England and Wales. Cover illustration Kinver Edge, west of Stourbridge. The well used to provide groundwater to the adjacent house built into Triassic Sandstone. Key words Baseline, Sherwood Sandstone, Environment Agency Project Manager: Staffordshire, Worcestershire, water quality, hydrogeochemistry, UK aquifer. Dr Rob Ward National Groundwater & Contaminated Land Centre Bibliographic Reference Tyler-Whittle, R, Brown, S & Shand, P, 2002 Baseline Report Series 3: The British Geological Survey Project Manager: Permo-Triassic Sandstones of South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire Dr Paul Shand British Geological Survey Commissioned Groundwater Systems & Water Quality Programme Report No. CR/02/119N Environment Agency 2002 National Groundwater & Contaminated Land Centre, Solihull 2002 NERC 2002 British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham 2002 BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ENVIRONMENT AGENCY The full range of Survey publications is available from BGS The Environment Agency is a non-departmental public body with Sales Desk at the Survey headquarters, Keyworth, Nottingham. particular responsibilities for aspects of environmental regulation The more popular maps and books may be purchased from and management in England and Wales. 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Environment Agency Regional Offices Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG Anglian 0115 936 3100 Telex 378173 BGSKEY G Kingfisher House, Fax 0115 936 3200 Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough PE2 5ZR e-mail: [email protected] www.bgs.ac.uk Tel 01733 371811 Fax 01733 231840 Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3LA Midlands 0131 667 1000 Telex 727343 SEISED G Sapphire East, 550 Streetsbrook Road, Solihull, West Midlands Fax 0131 668 2683 B91 1QT Tel 0121 711 2324 Fax 0121 711 5824 London Information Office at the Natural History Museum, Earth Galleries, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, North East SW7 2DE Rivers House, 21 Park Square South, Leeds LS1 2QG 0171 589 4090 Fax 0171 584 8270 Tel 0113 244 0191 Fax 0113 246 1889 0171 938 9056/57 North West St Just, 30 Pennsylvania Road, Exeter EX4 6BX Richard Fairclough House, Knutsford Road, Warrington WA4 1HG 01392 278312 Fax 01392 437505 Tel 01925 653999 Fax 01925 415961 Geological Survey of Northern Ireland, 20 College Gardens, South West Belfast BT9 6BS Manley House, Kestrel Way, Exeter EX2 7LQ 01232 666595 Fax 01232 662835 Tel 01392 444000 Fax 01392 444238 Maclean Building, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Southern Oxfordshire OX10 8BB Guildbourne House, Chatsworth Rd, Worthing, Sussex BN11 1LD 01491 838800 Fax 01491 692345 Tel 01903 832000 Fax 01903 821832 email: [email protected] Thames Parent Body Kings Meadow House, Kings Meadow Road, Reading RG1 8DQ Natural Environment Research Council Tel 0118 953 5000 Fax 0118 950 0388 Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN2 1EU Environment Agency Wales 01793 411500 Telex 444293 ENVRE G 29 Newport Road, Cardiff CF24 0TP Fax 01793 411501 Tel 01222 770088 Fax 01222 798555 Contents FOREWORD v BACKGROUND TO BASELINE PROJECT vi 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2. PERSPECTIVE 2 3. BACKGROUND TO UNDERSTANDING BASELINE QUALITY 8 3.1 Geology 8 3.2 Aquifer Mineralogy and Petrology 12 3.3 Hydrogeology 12 3.4 Rainfall Chemistry 18 4. DATA AND INTERPRETATION 20 4.1 New sampling programme 20 4.2 Historical Data 21 4.3 Interpretation of pumped groundwater samples 21 4.4 Data Handling 22 5. HYDROCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS 23 5.1 Introduction 23 5.2 Physicochemical characteristics and water types 25 5.3 Major elements 26 5.4 Minor and trace elements 27 5.5 Pollution indicators 29 6. GEOCHEMICAL CONTROLS AND REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 34 6.1 Introduction 34 6.2 Chemical evolution along transect 34 6.3 Variations with depth 40 6.4 Temporal Variations 43 6.5 Spatial variations 44 6.6 Age of the groundwater 47 7. BASELINE CHEMISTRY OF THE AQUIFER 48 8. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 50 REFERENCES 52 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 54 i List of Figures Figure 2.1 Location of the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire study area. 2 Figure 2.2 View of Birmingham looking east across the Permo-Triassic outcrop from Kinver Edge (NGR: 383500 283000) 3 Figure 2.3 The Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal bounded by Permo-Triassic sandstone rocks. 4 Figure 2.4 Land Use in the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire region 6 Figure 3.1 Geological map of the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire study area 8 Figure 3.2 East-west cross-sections across the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire study area (after Entec, 1998). Lines of section are shown on Figure 3.1. 10 Figure 3.3 Typical Permo-Triassic outcrop of the Kidderminster Sandstone showing cross- bedding. 11 Figure 3.4 Backscattered Scanning Electron Microscope pictures of the Kidderminster Formation, north Birmingham. 13 Figure 3.5 Groundwater contours in the Permo-Triassic aquifer of the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire study area. 14 Figure 3.6 Perry Farm pond fed by natural springs (Site 18). 15 Figure 3.7 An artesian borehole abstracting from the Kidderminster Formation at site 12. 16 Figure 3.8 Groundwater hydrographs from the Permo-Triassic aquifers of South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire. 17 Figure 4.1 On-site sampling using a flow through cell . 20 Figure 5.1 PIPER plot showing the relative concentrations of major cations and anions in the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire region (numbers refer to selected baseline sites referred to in text). 25 Figure 5.2 Boxplot showing the range of major element concentrations in the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire region. 26 Figure 5.3 Cumulative probability plot of major elements in the South Staffordshire and North Worcestershire region. 28 Figure 5.4 Boxplot showing the range of minor and trace element concentrations in the South Staffordshire and